VENICE, ITALY (1994)
In conjunction with the 1995 Venice Biennale, B Ticino commissioned Emilio Ambasz to design an interior exhibition for the company entitled Living and Light. Ambasz's design visually transforms this space into a metaphor for living, a passage through time. From the entry portal to the exit portal, an arching bridge spans the entire length of the space, connecting one portal to the other. The entry portal is oversized and off-axis, as if leading to an alternate world and dimension. The floor below appears as softly illuminated white mist, wafting like a gentle cloud in response to the movement of people above. The ceiling appears like a surreal 'sky,' brightly illuminated yet sharply delineated by the boundaries of the bridge. In the distance the diffused image of a window is 'suspended in space as if undefined by any wall. Through this window the hint of a future world is visible, the new Green Town where gardens merge in harmony with architecture, the 'Green over the Gray.' Upon the bridge stand four gateways, each appearing to be sequentially transformed and evolving from the previous one. At eye level upon each gateway is a switch plate and when each switch is touched, soft words of wisdom are spoken. Then silence returns until the next gate is entered. Switches are Keys to Other States...
